Re: Two questions about Copyright notices

[Laura Lemay <lemay -at- lauralemay -dot- com>]

McLauchlan, Kevin posited, and many people replied to:
>
> 1)  If your document is created and published in 2009,
> but then gets majorly revised in 2010 (more than half
> the content changes), does your copyright notice say
> "Copyright 2010" or "Copyright 2009-2010"?



Astonishingly, there is a ton of information about copyright online  
from the US Copyright Office, and the office is doing some really  
great technical writing.  In particular, if you start from the FAQ,  
you can find just about all the information you need:
http://www.copyright.gov/faq.html

To answer the actual question (and clear up some of the misconceptions  
in this thread), a work is copyright protected the moment it is "fixed  
in a tangible medium."  This is true whether an individual author  
creates it, or you create it for a company.  It does not matter  
whether it is a novel or a computer manual.  Copyright is copyright.   
The work also does not have to be published or registered for  
copyright to apply.
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

The actual copyright statement on the work is entirely optional (it  
was required before 1989).  It is still helpful to include it  
"announce" that a work is under copyright, and there's some argument  
that including the copyright prevents people from infringing that  
copyright.  You include the date the work was first created in the  
copyright notice.  If the work was substantially revised, then that  
work is considered a "derivative work," and it gets a new copyright  
and a new date.  You don't have to include both dates.
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf

It is not true that it is illegal to claim copyright earlier than the  
date of publication.  You can register your copyright at any time, and  
registration will help if you have to challenge your copyright in a  
court of law, but registration, like publication, is optional.

IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer) so you should check with your company's  
legal department in case they have more particular requirements they  
want to include, but these are the details as I understand them.  I  
took a weekend class in publishing law a long time ago and it's some  
of the best money I ever spent.

Laura
fixed in a tangible medium

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